


all I know is a new found grace

by SergeantPixie



Category: Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Caroline says it best, F/M, I REGRET NOTHING, and lust, sometimes you pull all-nighters and have to face the consequences, teen girl politics, they're just dumb teens in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 11:19:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18281615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SergeantPixie/pseuds/SergeantPixie
Summary: there are two new students on the first day back at Mystic Falls High School. TVD Pilot rework





	all I know is a new found grace

**Author's Note:**

> Obligatory: Yes-I-know-Dean-got-his-GED-this-is-an-AU-just-have-fun-and-try-to-enjoy-it. That being said, Dean is 6 months older than Elena, so he's in his senior year when she's in her junior. Title is from Taylor Swift's Everything Has Changed.

"Which one is hotter?" Bonnie asks, tilting her head to the side, almost tipping over into Caroline's lap while she watches one of the new boys – two new _hot_ boys on the first day of school, it's like Christmas came early – walk out of the cafeteria.

Caroline makes a humming sound, contemplating, tallying up their marks.

Dean, senior, tall, sandy brown hair, perfect green eyes, easy grin.

Stefan, junior, equally tall, artfully tousled golden brown hair, greener eyes, mysterious brooding air.

"It's so hard to pick just one." Caroline pouts, performing, always performing.

Across the table, Elena, absentminded, more focused on her apple than Bonnie and Caroline's drooling.

"Dean, definitely Dean," she says, easily, without thought.

Bonnie and Caroline's heads snap towards her in near perfect sync.

"How would you know?" Caroline demands.

Elena shrugs. "I met them both this morning," she says.

"Together?" Bonnie gapes.

Elena shakes her head, "No, separately," she answers simply, doesn't blush, but the corner of her mouth quirks in a way Bonnie had never dreamed it would again.

–That morning, the boy's bathroom, scolding Jeremy for being high before first period and suddenly there's a slight, low laugh, and Elena turns sharply, and he's coming out of one of the stalls, smirking at her good-naturedly, swaggering over to the sinks.

"I'd listen to your sister, kid," the stranger says casually, before adding, mischief bright in his ridiculously green eyes, "You can get away with a helluva lot more later if you play nice on the first day." He grins conspiratorially at Jeremy, winks at Elena and swaggers towards the door.

"Who are you?" Elena asks. He turns back, grins at her again and her stomach actually fucking flutters. What fresh hell is this?

"I'm Dean," he says. "I'm new here." Then he's out the door and Elena wonders what the hell just happened. Blinks, turns back to Jeremy.

Jeremy, thoughtful in his haze. "Maybe I'll go home, sleep it off," he offers and Elena stares at him.

"Okay," she says finally. "Do you want me to call Jenna for you?" she asks, expecting harsh reproach, stunned again when he nods.

"Yeah, that'd be cool."

Elena nods dumbly, pulls out her phone.

Elena walks him out of the bathroom, him in front of her, her fingers pressed gently between his shoulder blades, less of a frog march, more of a gentle guiding, his older sister protecting him, nice, not burdensome. He looks forward to crawling back into his bed, seeing her later when he's less blurry. Imagines her as the girl from last year, bright and shining and in command of every room, even if it's just the two of them in their own living room.

Right outside the door Jeremy almost collides with another boy, startling backwards into Elena.

"Whoa dude, watch where you're going," Jeremy says mildly. The other boy blinks, like he wasn't expecting him, peering over his shoulder to see Elena.

"Uh, sorry, I'm new here," he mumbles, eyes still on Elena.

Elena's attention is on her phone, reading Jenna's message about having informed the school about Jeremy's absence, promising that she's pulling into the parking lot as they speak.

"It's fine," Jeremy says, delayed, not quite there. Elena waves the other boy off absentmindedly, barely sparing him a glance.

"Jenna's here, do you want me to walk you out?" she asks, no time for the other boy. They keep moving down the hall, away from him, already forgotten. He stares after them, forlorn.

Jeremy shakes his head. "No thanks 'Lena, I'm good. I'll see you later, okay?"

Elena nods, they part ways.

She turns the corner on her way to Biology, and there Dean is again, leaning against the lockers, watching the other students with amused disinterest. Elena beelines for him.

"Hi," she says.

He turns, smiles at her. "Hey there," he replies.

She smiles back, a tad shyer than she'd normally be. "I just wanted to say thank you, you didn't have to help me out like that."

He shrugs, waves her off. "No big, I've got a little brother too, us older siblings gotta stick together." He smiles again, easily charming, bright and easygoing in a way that is startling to Elena in her recent permanent gloom. She smiles back, comfortable in his presence, her skin alight in a way it hasn't been since the last time she backflipped off the cheer pyramid and oh god, she _misses_ that girl.

"How did you know that he's my little brother?" she asks, realizing that nothing she'd said to Jeremy in the bathroom had explicitly given it away. He'd pegged her as Jeremy's sister right away, too.

"Like I said, I've gotta little brother too, I recognize the whoop-ass voice when I hear it." He shrugs. "I mean, my brother's still in middle school, and a bit of a nerd, so I don't exactly have to worry about him coming to school high," he admits. "Same basic principle, though."

She nods, understanding. "Yeah, I guess it is. Anyway, thank you, again. You made that a lot easier then it would've been otherwise."

He shrugs. "Don't worry about it."

The bell rings, and Elena glances up, startled, forgetting where they were for more than just a moment. She turns to leave, turns back, walking backwards, smiles at him, flirty and in charge.

He gulps, thinks, _holy shit_ , faced with the full power of Elena Gilbert.

"Elena," she says by way of introduction.

He nods. "Perfect."

She raises her eyebrow, perfectly arched in question, and Jesus Christ she can have anything she wants.

"Elena, it's perfect," he explains, feeling almost lame, off his game, helpless in the face of her appeal. She smiles.

"Dean's not so bad either," she says it airily, shifts all of her weight up onto her toe, spinning, far more graceful than anyone wearing Chuck Taylors has any right to be. And when she walks down the hall, there is something of her old self in the sway of her hips, capturing the attention of their lingering classmates. They watch her out of the corner of their eyes, that familiar awe never too far from their minds in the face of the girl she once was.

"Jesus Christ, Elena," Dean murmurs once she's out of sight. Shakes his head, trying to shake her off, goes to Trigonometry even though he planned on ditching. –

Later, in the cafeteria, at lunch, Elena cocks her head to the side, remembers that feeling of being totally herself and totally carefree. Something about the way Dean looked at her bringing that girl back in a second, and yeah, "Dean's definitely hotter," she says firmly, before taking a bite from her apple.

Bonnie and Caroline have no choice but to believe her.

* * *

She has a few classes with Stefan, which is how she finally learns his name, but he feels two-dimensional, a face in the crowd, compared to her interactions with Dean. She's had plenty of classes with kids she's never thought twice about. She's thought twice about Dean, at least.

After school she slips away to visit her parents' grave, needing a moment to breathe. A moment away from Bonnie and Caroline and everyone else who still can't seem to stop walking on eggshells around her.

It gets freaky—Hitchcockian, for a minute, fog and crows and mysterious shadows, so yeah, she freaks. She's just getting up after tripping when suddenly Stefan is right there, in her face. It doesn't help with the whole horror movie moment. She can't help asking if he's following her because this is all just too much of coincidence. He promises he wasn't but she still feels uneasy. She should be concerned at least, but she's not really all that sorry when he runs off after seeing all the blood from her injury. She's just about to leave, head home, when she hearts someone call out to her behind her.

"Uh, is this yours?"

She whirls around, and it's Dean, holding her diary in his hands.

She heaves a sigh of relief.

"Don't do that," she scolds and he looks at her funny.

"I'm sorry, the last five minutes of my life just resembled a horror movie, and you just qualified as a jump scare, hopefully the last," she explains.

He nods in understanding, handing over her diary.

"Thank you," she says, taking it and carefully tucking it away in her bag.

"No problem," he says, tucking his hands into his pockets. "So which movie?" he asks.

"Excuse me?" she asks, cocking her head to the side.

"Which horror movie did it resemble," he elaborates, "the last five minutes of your life?"

She laughs.

"Uh, _The Birds_ ," she says, "That old Hitchcock film. There was a crow and fog and a dark figure, very ominous."

Dean looks interested by her description of what had happened. "That's really specific, and old school," he observes.

Elena shrugs, leans in conspiratorially. "My friend, Caroline," she says, and he nods.

"Ah yes, the one who's digging up all the info on me and that other new kid," he says.

Elena laughs. "Yeah, she's really good at that," she admits. "If you're not careful she could have your social security number by dinnertime."

Dean makes a face. "That's a little terrifying."

"That's Caroline Forbes," Elena says, perfectly serious. "And don't tell anyone, but she's got a bit of thing for classic horror movies, especially Hitchcock."

"That is even more terrifying," Dean says, making Elena laughs.

"Is that why that Salvatore kid ran off?" he asks. "Got too freaky for him?"

Elena shakes her head. "Ah no, that was me, I'm afraid, I'm bleeding." She gestures down at her leg vaguely. "It must've freaked him out." She shrugs.

He looks alarmed. "You're bleeding?" he asks, concerned.

She waves him off. "Oh, it's fine, doesn't even hurt," she assures him.

"He just ran off, even though you're bleeding?" he asks slowly.

"It's not that big of a deal, Dean, I'm not gonna die or anything, it's just a little scratch," she says.

He nods slowly, a slightly calculating look on his face, piquing Elena's curiosity.

"Well, let's have a look," he says, diverting her attention.

"Excuse me?" she asks.

"I'm not squeamish, let's make sure you're not under-exaggerating," he says this easily.

Elena props her leg up, gently rolling up her pants leg.

"That is definitely not just a scratch," Dean observes, pulling a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket, sits down on the gravestone she has her foot propped on, gently, he takes her shoed foot in his hand.

Elena blinks. "You carry a handkerchief?" she asks, an edge of laughter in her voice.

He presses it to her wound very gently, wiping the blood away before he folds it long ways and begins to gentle wrap it around her wound. "As you can see, it's very handy."

His hands are warm and sure and she wants him to touch her more, but she keeps that to her to herself, this is only their second conversation, after all.

Elena concedes. "Okay it is, but it's still ridiculously old-fashioned," she says.

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Are you making fun of me?" he asks, affronted.

She giggles, shakes her head. "No, I think it's cute."

"That's right, I am cute," he says, flashing her another grin.

She laughs at his cockiness, and for a moment, finds herself completely off balance, at how often she's laughed in this one conversation with this boy she barely knows.

He pats her ankle gently, rolling her pants leg back down over the makeshift bandage. "There you go," he says, and then he stands back up.

She smiles at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." And for a moment it's just them, trying not to smile too hard at each other, and failing.

Elena cocks her head to the side. "Not to be paranoid, but those five minutes were pretty freaky, so I have to ask, what are you doing here?" She looks around at the graveyard they're in.

He laughs, rubs the back of his neck. "Uh, I thought it might be a shortcut to the middle school," he admits. "I was on my way to pick up my brother, but I got a bit lost, I'm definitely late now."

Elena nods in understanding. "Well, the graveyard is definitely not a shortcut to the middle school, but I can show you the way."

She tries not to sound too eager as she offers her assistance.

"That would be great," he says, his relief evident.

She starts towards the entrance, and he falls into step with her easily.

"What were you doing here anyway?" he asks after a moment.

She hesitates, takes a breath, "I was, uh, visiting my parents," she says softly.

He stills, but ultimately keeps moving, walking by her side.

"They died last spring, our car went off Wickery Bridge," she explains after a moment, her voice still soft.

"You were in the car with them," he says, putting it together easily.

She nods.

"I'm sorry, that sucks."

She gives him a grateful half-smile.

"Yeah, it really does," she says, liking his blunt terms.

"I lost my mom, when I was a kid," he says, offering something of himself in return for her honesty.

She pauses, forcing him to stop too, and looks at him long and steady and this is more terrifying than the look she'd given him in the hallway that morning.

Dean loves girls who can flirt, they're fun. Elena takes it further. She'd proven, in that moment in the hallway, that she could flirt. In this moment, she proves that she can do something much more dangerous and alluring, she understands.

"That sucks," she says, parroting his earlier words with just as much sincerity as he had. He smiles a little in response, and she smiles back, and then they both start walking again. As they walk he can't help but notice the way eyes seem to follow them everywhere. Dean's been the new kid enough times to know when it's just about being new, and when it's something else. It's definitely something else this time. It's her. This town can't seem to keep their collective eyes off of her. He can't tell if she just doesn't notice, or if she's just grown used to it.

"So, that thing with your brother this morning," Dean starts, "is that what it was about?" he asks.

Elena nods. "Yeah, he's not taking it very well, I guess he's just trying to handle his grief as best he can, but…" she trails off, shrugs. "I'm his big sister, I worry," she concludes simply.

"That makes sense," he agrees. "Not exactly a great way of handling things, but he's lucky to have you looking out for him."

She gives him a weak smile. "I'm trying," she says, reluctant to give herself too much credit. "You were great with him this morning, though," she adds.

He waves her off.

"No really," she insists. "I have never seen someone derail teenage rebellion so quickly."

He laughs. "Well I had my days of teen rebellion, not that long ago, actually," he admits. "Although my dad woulda had my hide if I'd gone to school high," he adds.

She laughs. "Yeah, our mom's sister, Aunt Jenna, is the one who's taking care of us, it's all new to her," she explains. "It isn't easy for her."

"Nah, I couldn't imagine it would be."

She nudges him with her shoulder so he turns with her. If she lingers a little too long, her shoulder pressed against his bicep a little longer than necessary, well, he isn't complaining.

"It gets easier," he tells her and she looks at him. "I'm not gonna tell you it stops hurting, but it gets easier, you get better at living with it."

She smiles at him, slow and sure and grateful.

She points her chin ahead.

"The middle school is that building right there," she says, stopping and smiling with him.

"Thank you," he says.

"No problem," she replies. "I'm gonna head home, I wanna check on Jeremy."

He nods his head. "Cool."

She turns, ready to walk away, but his voice stops him.

"So the jury's out on that Stefan kid, but for the record, I for one am definitely against stalking."

She turns back, grinning. "I mean, that's good to know," she says, a giggle bubbling up in her throat.

"Yeah, see I'm more of a direct approach kinda guy," he explains. "I mean, stalking isn't a nice way to let a girl know you're interested."

Elena does giggle then.

"Trust me, Dean, I already know you are," she says. He raises an eyebrow. "You told me my name was perfect," she reminds him.

He laughs. "Yes I did," he says, without a hint of embarrassment, as dumb as it'd made him feel that morning. "So, Elena, what are you doing tonight?" he asks.

She smiles. "I'm going to the grill, the Mystic Grille, with some friends," she says. "But you can come, if you want," she adds. "Everyone hangs out there, and I'm sure Caroline would love to grill you in person, pun intended."

Dean makes a face at the mention of Caroline. He wasn't kidding when he'd said she was terrifying, but he nods. "Yeah okay, cool," he agrees.

"All right, eight o'clock," she tells him.

"I'll see you then, Elena," he says and every time he says her name it gives her the kind of thrill she used to get from doing the splits mid keg-stand. His attention, the way he says her name, it's a special kind of thrill all on its own, no other audience necessary.

"See you later, Dean," she says, waving at him as she turns to walk away.

He watches her go, waits until she's out of sight before he starts to move again, away from the middle school. Sam's been at the library for last hour, and Dean has plenty of time to get another look at that graveyard before he has to go pick him up. More specifically he can head back to the spot where Elena saw the raven and the fog, and the dark figure.

This job gets more interesting by the minute.

* * *

When Dean gets to the grill that night it's almost half past eight and he's annoyed with his own lateness for once. The talk with his dad had taken longer than previously estimated. He catches sight of Elena pretty easily, the unconscious smile that had started turning to a grimace when he sees Stefan sitting between her and Caroline.

Caroline is talking animatedly at Stefan who is gazing moon-eyed at Elena who is looking at her brother, Jeremy, sitting alone in the corner, making absurd, desperate faces at him every time Stefan diverts his attention away from her even for a moment.

Jeremy, in turn, only cackles at her faces and leaves her to her fate, more intent on sketching in his note pad and flirting with the waitress than saving his sister from unwanted attention.

Dean frowns a bit, reminding himself that the kid has no idea what the other boy is, what he could do to his sister, given two seconds alone with her.

He's about to move through the crowd toward them when Elena turns to check the door, looking for him, he hopes, and when she catches sight of him she smiles.

He smiles back reflexively, a plan already forming in his head. Instead of going to her, he stays put, waving her over.

She gets up almost at once, saying something to the tiny black girl sitting on her other side, clearly glad to have a reason to escape Stefan's attention.

She doesn't notice that Stefan's eyes follow her all the way across the room, but Dean does.

"I don't think I have ever been happier to see anyone in my entire life," Elena says by way of greeting, reaching out to squeeze his hand gratefully.

He squeezes hers back as reassuringly as he can without giving away his concern.

"Yeah, you looked a bit cornered," he says.

She glances back at the table, sees Stefan trying to pretend that he isn't watching her. "I was, still am, I guess," she admits.

She hasn't let go of his hand yet, and he's not going to bring it to her attention.

"Sorry I'm late, my dad wanted to talk about Sammy and I's first day and it took longer than expected."

Actually, his dad had wanted to talk about Elena and her vampire stalker, but he can't actually tell her that.

Elena waves him off. "It's fine," she says. "Sammy, is that your brother?" she asks.

He nods. "Yeah, he's thirteen, just started seventh grade, he had a lot to say about every single class." He grimaces and she laughs.

"He sounds great," she says, and she sounds so earnest that it's impossible for his insides not to melt just a little bit, like a loser.

"He is," he says seriously. He changes the subject. "So, how mad is Caroline gonna be if we ditch their table?" he asks, thinking up a strategy to get Elena away from Stefan's presence, even for a little bit.

He should be worrying about the other teenagers and innocent bystanders in the vampire's proximity, but he's fixated on Elena and only Elena, so that makes her Dean's priority. Not that he's complaining at all.

Elena makes a face, shakes her head. "She'd be furious," she says.

He sighs. "Yeah, I figured, but she can't exactly get mad if we go say hi to your brother first," he says.

She smiles. "I like the way you think." She tugs on his hand, leading him towards her brother's lonely little corner. "Plus, I need to tell him off for not rescuing me from Stefan," she adds over her shoulder.

He laughs. "I'll bet."

"Seriously Jeremy?" Elena demands the second they get to his table.

She lets go of Dean's hand and leans her elbows on the table, glaring at her brother.

Jeremy grins unabashedly at her.

"I think he likes you," Jeremy says.

He looks at Dean, gives him a nod that Dean returns.

Dean refrains from giving him a lecture about leaving his sister alone with unknown men. It's not the time or place, but it is a conversation that needs to be had, in general. Sure, not every guy who hits on his sister is going to be a literal monster, but plenty of them could be bad people.

"He creeps me out, Jer," Elena says.

Dean's positioned himself so he can keep an eye on Stefan, so he sees the way he flinches at her words.

"You didn't say anything." Jeremy doesn't look so amused now.

Elena shrugs. "I dunno, he keeps showing up everywhere I am."

Dean mouth twitches. He's glad she's noticed Stefan's fixation on her, but that brings it one step away from what he's doing, and he knows exactly what it looks like on the surface. His only excuse is that she's clearly interested in him, which is nice, all things considered. He likes her too, God help him. It just so happens that he's after the vampire that's clearly stalking her.

Jeremy's talking.

"I mean, 'Lena, if we're gonna get technical here, it also kinda seems like Dean is showing up everywhere you are too."

Dean coughs and laughs nervously, but Elena just rolls her eyes at her brother.

"Well first of all, Jer, he was in the bathroom before we were, and I was the one who went up to him in the hallway, and I invited him here tonight. So I am definitely the one coming off like a stalker."

Dean cuts in immediately.

"Oh please, stalk me, seriously, I don't mind at all." He grins at her.

Elena laughs.

Jeremy rolls his eyes at them.

"Gross," he mutters under his breath. Out loud, he says, "Yeah, but I mean, were you really lost in that graveyard or was finding her diary the perfect opportunity to get invited here tonight?"

Dean coughs and laughs again, makes note of it as something he's gotta work on when he's being interrogated. He can tell Jeremy is kidding, but he's been a little too spot on for his comfort. He is a Gilbert, though, and Dean knows enough about this town to know what that means.

Figures the kid has spot on instincts. His sister's don't seem too bad either.

"What's with the inquisition, Jer?" Elena raises an eyebrow at her brother, then she turns to Dean, and asks him, "Are you stalking me?" She cocks her head to the side, a mischievous glint in her eye.

He considers her, goes for it.

"Actually I'm stalking Stefan," he tells her seriously.

She laughs, just like he hoped she would. Sometimes the truth is the most effective weapon in his arsenal.

"Well, damn." she sighs.

Dean shrugs like it can't be helped.

Jeremy shakes his head at them, starts packing up.

"Well, I'm gonna go home," he says, then he points his chin over to the table full of Elena's friend. "You two should go back to the table before Caroline comes over here."

Elena turns to look, sees the expression Caroline's face.

"Uh, yeah, we should," she agrees.

She turns back to her brother.

"I got your homework for you, it's on the kitchen counter."

He groans.

"Who gives homework on the first day?" he asks no one in particular.

"Sadists," Dean answers immediately.

Elena nods in agreement.

Jeremy leaves then, giving Dean a nod, reassuring him that the kid actually likes him and doesn't think he's a creep. Which is good, because Elena seems like the kind of girl who cares if her brother likes the guy she's into.

Once her brother is gone Elena turns to Dean.

"So, are you ready for the inquisition?" she asks.

He sighs heavily.

He looks at her face for a long time without saying anything.

She gives him a look.

"What?" she asks.

He shakes his head.

"I'm reminding myself why I'm willingly gonna walk my ass into the fire," he tells her seriously.

She laughs, blushes a little, which honestly makes his entire night.

"You're adorable," she says.

He grins, nods. "Thanks for noticing."

She takes his hand again.

"C'mon, Caroline really will come get us."

* * *

"So what does your dad do, Dean?"

If anything, Elena has underexaggerated Caroline's intimidation factor. She's gotten bored of Stefan, apparently her limit of interest in an uninterested boy runs out when he won't stop going after her friend who is clearly into someone else.

So she's switched over to ignoring him, which everyone else picks up immediately. It's high school politics at its finest. This Queen Bee doesn't even need to say a word for her friends to understand that Stefan Salvatore is out.

Dean's impressed, truly, and more than a little concerned. Caroline Forbes doesn't fuck around when it comes to her friends, and he's currently holding hands with her best friend under the table.

"He's a private eye," Dean says.

Everyone makes interested noises. Everyone includes Elena's other best friend, Bonnie Bennett, the mayor's son, Tyler Lockwood, and the quarterback of the school football team, Matt Donovan.

Saying his dad is a P.I. isn't that far off from the truth, and Caroline Forbes is not the kind of girl you give vague answers.

"That sounds interesting."

Elena's running her fingers across his knuckles, so it takes him a second to realize she's talking to him. When he turns to look at her, she's got this tiny glint of mischievous in her eyes, and that's when he realizes she's enjoying watching him get his ass handed to him by her perky best friend.

He would've pegged her as the Queen Bee, honestly. The way people react to her is insane for a seventeen-year-old girl. He can see how much she enjoys Caroline's bitchy reign though, so clearly it's been less of a bitch fight and more of a team effort. Elena gets to sit back and enjoy the world revolving around her, oblivious, while Caroline directs them into orbit.

Cute new boy won't stop gawking at best friend who clearly likes other cute new boy? First cute new boy is over, thank you very much.

Caroline hums, drawing Dean's attention again. The look on her face worries him. He takes a drink of his soda, wishing for something with a bit more kick.

"So why did you spend time in a reform school?"

Dean chokes on his soda.

Elena's hand slips out of his to thump him on the back until he can breathe again.

"Excuse me?" he finally asks. "How in the hell do you know that?"

"I'm Caroline Forbes." The 'duh' is written all over her face.

This time Elena gives him a look of real sympathy.

"So, we're waiting?" Caroline says. She's definitely dominating the conversation, but it's clear that everyone, save possibly Tyler, is interested.

Before he can open his mouth Elena steps in.

"Caroline that is so not our business, back off."

The look Elena gives her clearly says what Dean's been thinking. Caroline is Queen Bee because Elena wants her to be, by the grace of this strangely magnetic girl.

"Uh, it's fine," Dean says. "I was a bit of a loose cannon, snuck out, didn't listen to my dad, he thought some more structure would straighten me out."

Caroline hums noncommittally.

"I'm starting to get the feeling you're the one my dad should be training to be his partner, Veronica Mars," Dean says.

Caroline beams at that.

"So he's training you?"

Goddammit, she's relentless.

"Caroline, this isn't an interrogation, you're making the fun less fun."

Elena is also relentless, which is nice, because she's on his side.

"That sounds like a really interesting career, do you move a lot, Dean?"

Clearly the vampire is starting to feel the cold shoulder.

Caroline blatantly rolls her eyes.

Dean clears his throat.

"Uh, yup, we do," Dean replies shortly.

There is an awkward silence.

Bonnie, finally breaks it.

"Where's your favorite place you've lived?" she asks Dean, genuinely interested.

"Uh, you know, I try not to get too attached," he says, his standard answer. "Mystic Falls seems pretty cool, though." Not his standard answer, especially not for small towns.

Elena smiles at him when he says it though, so it's worth it.

"What makes Mystic Falls so difference from everywhere else?"

Caroline's clearly fishing for her friend, but Dean doesn't mind taking the bait.

"Good company makes all the difference in the world."

Even Caroline has to smile at that, and Bonnie melts which is how Dean knows he said the right thing.

"So do you know how long you'll be here?"

Matt doesn't seem to like him, but it's not hard to guess that it has something to do with the girl sitting next to Dean.

"Uh Matt, back off," Caroline says, clearly annoyed that he stepped into her interrogation.

Dean decides to answer anyway.

"A while," he says vaguely. He can't exactly explain that he's here as long as the vampire sitting at their table is alive and stalking the girl who is holding his hand.

Apparently he's said enough that Caroline's done with him because she almost immediately moves onto Elena.

"So, when are you coming back to the cheer squad?" she asks.

Dean looks at Elena.

"You were a cheerleader?" he asks, not even bothering to hide his excitement.

Elena laughs.

"I still am one, I took time off after the accident," she answers him, and then she turns back to Caroline.

"Actually I was gonna talk to you about that later," she admits. "I was thinking I'd sit in on the next practice?" she suggests. "I missed cheer camp so I'll need a little time to catch up, but watching the routines should help."

Caroline positively beams at that.

"Awesome, come to morning practice tomorrow, we're meeting in the gym at six."

Bonnie groans.

"Sadist!" she accuses

"Perfectionist!" Caroline argues.

"Over achiever," Elena throws in and everyone laughs then.

Caroline pouts, but she can't argue.

"You all are going to appreciate that about me when we get to Regionals!"

"Yeah, once we start talking about cheer practice, I'm out," Tyler says.

He's barely been paying attention to the general conversation in the first place. He's not particularly interested in interrogating Elena's potential beau. Definitely invested in not-so-subtly flirting with the same waitress that Jeremy had been flirting with earlier, except with far better results.

Matt nods, aside from his earlier question, he's been quiet for most of the night. He mostly morosely looks at Elena, who has a hard time not looking at Dean. Dean only succeeds in remembering to look at the other teenagers because it's his damn job. There's a vampire sitting at their table who could decide that Elena's cold shoulder makes her an unappealing victim and set his sights on someone else at any moment.

The two boys gather their jackets and wave goodbye.

"Donovan and I will take care of the kegs for tomorrow night," Tyler promises.

"Excellent," Caroline replies.

Both boys ignore Stefan and give Dean significant looks that he's not interested in translating as they leave.

"What's happening tomorrow night?"

The vampire is trying to be included again.

Caroline answers begrudgingly, mostly because it suits her purpose.

"There's a party at the falls," she answers, not actually looking at him.

Pointedly she directs her next words at Dean.

"You should come, Dean," she tells him, then adds, "Elena's going to be there."

Elena raises an eyebrow.

"I am?" she asks with bemusement.

Caroline rolls her eyes and nods. "Duh."

Elena turns her gaze over to Dean.

"I am," she affirms.

He laughs.

"Then I'll be there," he promises.

She smiles.

"Awesome," she says.

"Is anyone invited?"

Caroline rolls her eyes at the vampire.

"Yeah, it's a party, anyone's invited," Bonnie answers, trying to be a bit nicer then her friends, but clearly still uninterested.

Dean wonders at the power of teenage girls, because the vampire honest-to-God looks beaten down by their mean girl antics on the behalf of their friend.

Maybe their instincts aren't perfect, but he has to appreciate their end game. Sure, they're exiling the vampire for the wrong reasons – that is, they should be running in the other goddamn direction because he's a motherfucking vampire – but ignoring him because he's being creepy about their friend is just as good, and more than effective.

Elena reaches out, grasping Dean's wrist to look at the time on his watch. He lets her, not minding at all that it's clearly just a way to get closer to him.

"Yeah, I definitely need to get home, I wanna make sure Jeremy actually did his homework."

Dean nods.

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

He opens his mouth to offer her a ride, but someone beats him to the punch.

"You shouldn't walk home alone."

Everyone turns to look at the vampire then.

"She's not," Dean says flatly.

"I'm not," Elena echoes, still looking at Stefan warily. This isn't planned, but Dean is glad Elena goes along with it.

"I said I'd give her a ride home when Jeremy left," he lies easily.

"That's right," she agrees.

Sure, there's more than a good chance the vampire was listening to them long enough to know they didn't really plan that earlier, but he can't say anything without giving himself away.

He nods, obviously disappointed.

"Right, that's good."

Caroline gives him a nasty smile.

"You should probably get home too," she says, clearly telling him to leave.

He nods, looking downtrodden.

"You ready?" Elena asks Dean.

He nods.

* * *

He spends the whole next day at school thinking about the drive back to her house. They'd been mostly quiet, but it had been comfortable, perhaps the most comfortable he's ever been with a girl, alone in a darkened car.

He can still feel her mouth against his skin, smell her perfume—sharp and floral all at once—and feel the way her eyelashes ghosted across his cheekbone, a butterfly kiss left alongside the one she pressed to his cheek.

He'd gone into school early enough to catch a glimpse of her and the rest of the cheerleaders on the field, hips popping, arms rotating in perfect unison. Elena Gilbert in short-shorts and a high ponytail might be his favorite thing in the world.

He knows the vampire will be at the party tonight, so it will be work too, but he still finds that he's eager to see her again, even with the threat looming at every turn.

Dean barely makes it down to the falls before Caroline is there in front of him, arms crossed, blocking his path.

"Hey Caroline," he says.

She glares at him in response, surprising him.

"You're late," she tells him. "Creepy Stefan has been here for ten whole minutes and he's practically attached himself to Elena. Go rescue her before I take back all the nice things I said about you to her in American Literature."

Dean grins.

"You said nice things about me to Elena?" he asks.

She continues to glare. She points her finger behind her.

"Go, save my best friend," she orders.

This sobers him quickly, even if she doesn't know it, she's more on task for his job than he is.

He looks in the direction she's pointing.

Elena's sitting on the railing of the outdoor pavilion, beer in hand, looking very uncomfortable as Stefan looms over her.

Dean groans.

"Can't he take a hint?" he complains.

Caroline scoffs.

"Of course not, teenage boys are idiots," she declares flatly.

He wants to argue, but he can't exactly explain that the creep chatting up her best friend is actually a century and a half old vampire. So he just keeps his mouth shut and starts towards them.

"Hey," she calls after him.

He stops, turning back just enough to see her face while still keeping Elena and her vampiric stalker in sight.

"If you mess up, there's a long line out the door waiting for their chance."

He blinks, a little surprised at her warning and more than a little annoyed at his own surprise. Teenage girl politics, protect your friends at all costs.

"My advice? Don't mess up," she says flatly. "Elena's perfect, but she's been through a lot, and no one in this town wants to see her get hurt." She pauses for effect, then adds, "And fair warning, my mom's the sheriff, and I am so not above abusing that power."

Dean nods.

"I won't mess up," he promises.

He knows there's more than likely chance that he'll mess it up with Elena, he has to leave eventually after all, but he's not going to mess up on the job. Sure, he's shitty boyfriend material, but he's a damn good hunter, and he's not gonna let any girl get eaten on his watch, especially not Elena.

One of Elena's movements stands out in his peripheral, and he can't help the disbelieving smile that crosses his face and he turns to watch her chug down her beer like a champ.

Caroline smiles.

"Good," she says briskly before moving on. "Now Elena's chugging her beer so she has an excuse to get away from him," she explains. "You go get her a beer and make sure he doesn't have another moment alone with her all night, okay?"

"Solid plan."

She flips her hair over her shoulder.

"Duh," she replies.

He laughs, nods.

He indicates with his head that she should walk with him to the beer keg. After all, he does care very much that Elena's friends like him. She accepts without a word.

Remembering what Elena had said during their talk in the graveyard when he'd been surprised by Caroline's resourcefulness, Dean grins.

"You're Caroline Forbes, right."

She gives him her best beauty pageant smile.

At the keg he pours out the first beer expertly and hands it off to her without a thought.

"Thanks for the advice, Veronica Mars."

This time she gives him a real smile.

He pours out a second for Elena, and a third for himself. He's not drinking much tonight, not until it's done and over, but one beer won't hurt.

He raises his cup to Caroline as she starts towards the other cheerleaders, and she returns the gesture.

"Caroline said you'd need this," Dean says as he walks up to them, clearly talking to Elena.

Elena's mouth blooms into that beautiful, knock-you-on-your-ass grin at exactly the same moment the vampire's descends into an annoyed frown.

"My hero," Elena says jokingly, taking the proffered cup. "Speaking off."

She takes his handkerchief out of her pocket, freshly laundered and neatly folded. She gives it to him.

"Thank you for bandaging me up in the graveyard the other day."

He can tell she's specifically bringing it up in front of the vampire to pointedly remind him how rude it was of him to run off when he saw her injury. Dean plays along.

"Oh, well it's what any decent, law-abiding citizen would do." He ends his statement with a grin that makes the vampire shift uncomfortably.

She takes a long drink, then gestures at Stefan with her hand.

"Stefan?" she starts, like she doesn't quite remember his name, clearly a battle tactic.

He still nods eagerly, like a puppy. A sick, demented puppy with fangs who wanted to eat her after gaining her approval.

"Stefan was just telling me about the Battle of Willow Creek," she says, and Dean can hear the disinterest radiating in her tone.

He raises an eyebrow at her.

"Oh yeah," she nods. "It was the topic in American History today, some Civil War battle that took place here or something."

Her tone is so dismissive that the vampire actually flinches. The teenage girls in this town really seem to have an effect on his ego.

Dean takes a drink from his own beer, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Sounds fascinating," he says dryly.

Elena nods with perfect seriousness, a hint of mischief in her eye.

"Oh yeah, I don't know shit about it so Stefan was kind enough to step in after Coach Tanner got a little impolite when I couldn't answer his questions about it."

She blinks her lashes innocently.

"It was very kind of him."

Dean gets the picture, the vampire has been trying to milk his classroom save since it happened.

Dean nods along.

"Wow, that's big of you."

The vampire has the decency to hunch over a bit, looking down at his feet.

"He even got called Miss Gilbert for his troubles." She tsks her tongue, shaking her head a little like she honestly can't believe he was so brave as to endure being called Miss to impress her.

Dean chokes back a laugh, trying to play along with her seriousness.

"I mean, he's a bigger man than I am." He can't actually say it with a straight face.

Finally, it seems like the vampire has gotten the hint. He looks down at his mostly full cup.

"I'm gonna go get a…" he trails off.

Elena nods.

"Yeah, you should go," she says shortly, clearly at the end of her patience.

He starts to walk towards the keg, slowly, like he hopes she'll call him back. She doesn't.

When he's out of regular hearing shot, Elena finally speaks again.

"That was mean," she says, not sounding a bit sorry.

Dean shakes his head.

"He was being a creep," he says, knowing the vampire is still listening.

She nods fervently.

"Yeah, he really was."

She cocks her head to the side, smiles at him.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue."

He shakes his head.

"Nah, you should thank Caroline for pointing me in the right direction," he insists.

Elena grins and shakes her head in fondness.

"I honestly don't know what I would do without her," she admits.

He nods seriously.

"Yeah, she is a hell of a wing-woman."

She laughs out loud, but nods.

"Oh definitely," she agrees easily. "I'm gonna have to make sure her birthday present this year is awesome."

He laughs.

"Oh definitely, if it weren't for her you'd still be talking to that Stefan dude."

Elena shudders, not at all an act.

"Yeah, her Christmas present is gonna be awesome too," she mutters as she takes another drink.

She looks at him, cocking her head to the side, really looking at him.

"You're here," she says simply.

He nods.

"Yeah well I heard this girl I'm interested in would be here so..." He shrugs.

She beams at him, pats the seat next to her.

He obliges, climbing up to sit next to her, looking out at the party. He holds his breath for a second, realizing that from here, you can see almost every single thing happening at the party. The woods are dark except for the burning embers of cigarettes and whatever else they're smoking tonight, but everything else is perfectly visible, from the keg to the make out corner.

If he was on a stakeout, this would be the exact spot he'd choose. It's interesting that this is where she just so happened to choose to sit.

He knows the traditions in this town, most of the younger generation won't be told the truth about their ancestry until they're of age. He personally thinks it's stupid that they wait so long. After all, they'll never be allowed to live without this knowledge, it's their responsibility to know and to act on that knowledge. For over a century, the descendants of the founding families have held the position of protectors of this town.

So what exactly does preserving their childhood do for them except put them at risk? Elena is being stalked by a vampire right now, and she has no idea because her deceased parents decided that her being a kid was more important than her safety. It makes him mad.

Most of the time he resents or envies other teenagers' ignorance, but the kids in this town, the children of the founding families, he's angry on behalf of all of them. Eventually the rug will be pulled out from under them, and they might not be prepared when it happens.

Beautiful, perfect Elena Gilbert might not be prepared when it happens.

He knows that she doesn't know the truth about her town or her family, so he knows she chose this spot without any hunting tactics in mind. It says a lot about her, more than anything else he's learned so far. At the very least, despite his fears, he has an inkling that even if she's not prepared, she'll be able to handle it. And if she can't, she'll learn.

Elena bends down to pick something off the ground. She sits back up and holds it up, offering it to him.

"Beer cap for your thoughts?" She gives him a cheeky grin and he laughs.

He takes the beer cap with solemnly and then points it towards the keg where the vampire is lingering.

"Wonder where he's going to go next?"

Elena considers him.

"Emo kids?" she suggests.

Dean shakes his head.

"Cheerleaders," he says firmly, pointing to Caroline and her squad.

Elena raises an eyebrow.

"How do you figure that?"

He shrugs.

"Caroline was pretty interested before she realized he was only into you," he explains.

Elena shakes her head.

"Nah, she's done, trust me. She can suffer the indignity of going after a guy who's going after another girl, but not when the girl is clearly into someone else." She takes another drink, adds matter-of-factly. "Plus you know, girl code says you don't go for guys that creep your best friend out."

Dean considers this.

"I'll bow to your expertise, but he's still gonna go over there and get smacked down by Forbes."

Elena laughs.

"I guess we'll see."

They watch as the vampire lingers for a moment, and then he picks a direction.

"Huh," Dean says, taken aback.

"The football players?" Elena is on the same page as him. "I did not see that coming."

Dean nods.

"Me neither."

Elena considers this.

"It really depends on how much he knows about football," she says finally.

Lockwood and Donovan clearly don't want him there, but after a few moments of the vampire talking it becomes clear he knows what he's talking about. The boys he's talking to seem to edge away from him anyway. Lockwood nudges a couple of younger looking boys out from the edge of the group to keep him satisfied.

Elena laughs out loud.

Dean gives her a look, indicating with his hand that she should explain.

"Freshmen," she says. "He got regulated to JV jocks, which means he knows something, but they still don't want anything to do with him."

Dean nods in consideration.

"So what, they're all too nice to tell him to take a hike?" he questions, giving her a bemused look.

Elena looks at him.

"This is the South," she says like it's self-explanatory. "Manners are important, even to teenage boys, or at least to their mothers. Mrs. Lockwood will have Ty's hide and his car if he doesn't play nice."

Dean shakes his head.

"Southern etiquette is a whole bag of crazy."

Elena's mouth drops open.

"Ouch," she says, pressing her hand to heart. "If I didn't know better I'd say you're from the North."

Dean laughs at her perfectly bred Southern scorn. She might not have the accent of past generations, but she might be the first Southern girl he's ever met that makes a solid case for the appeal of the Southern Belle.

"Actually, Kansas, technically."

Elena shakes her head.

"That's worse, Midwesterners are just nice, there's no sincerity or etiquette to it at all."

Dean wants to laugh at their silly conversation, but he's enjoying it.

"I'll have you know, I'm not nice and I don't have any manners."

Elena raises an eyebrow.

"You escorted me home last night, rescued me from a creepy guy more than once, I'd say your manners are impeccable."

Dean winces comically, trying to cover up how bashful her compliments make him feel.

She leans over, nudging him with her shoulder.

"Face it, Dean Winchester, you're no Creepy Stefan."

He has to laugh at that.

"That might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." He gives her a teasing look. "I guess your Southern manners aren't so bad."

She smiles sweetly.

"Well, you know what they say about us Southern girls and our manners."

Dean raises an eyebrow, shakes his head.

"Nope, don't know a thing about it."

She grins then, and it's not sweet or polite or even that pure radiating happiness from earlier. It's the dirtiest thing he's ever seen in his life, and he's a goddamn teenage boy.

"It's all an act, we're just about the most fun you could ever have."

He gulps, resists the urge to down the rest of his beer. Instead he takes a cautious sip, careful not to choke.

She grins again, not at all fooled by his act, perfectly aware of the effect she has on him.

"Yup, you are definitely trouble." He shakes his head.

"You don't know the half of it," she says, her grin still positively wicked.

"I'd like to find out."

She bites her lip, and he knows they're heading into dangerous territory. He wants badly to follow her down that path, but he's got a job to do.

He clears his throat.

"So what kind of trouble are we talking, here? Like your brother?" He leans in. "Worse?"

She laughs, shrugs innocently.

"Well I never went to class high, or skipped for that matter," she says.

He shakes head.

"Careful, you're starting to sound like a good girl."

She leans into him, close enough for him to smell her perfume and how strangely intoxicating it smells mixed with alcohol.

"I am a very good girl," she says with slow deliberation. She dips her dead deliberately. "But I've always had a wild streak."

He raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

She nods seriously.

"Oh yeah, I was a bit of a party girl," she says it like it's a secret, or a confession. They're unbearably close, and it's getting harder to remember what he's supposed to be doing.

"Oh really?" he asks, and apparently there's enough skepticism in his tone to bait her.

In a surprising move, she sits up, calls out to one of the football players.

"Hey, Fell!"

A blond-haired varsity player turns to respond.

"Yo Gilbert!"

Without being asked, he pours her another beer and brings it over.

She nods her thanks at him, unbearably cool.

"This is Dean, he's new," Elena says easily.

Fell nods at him, so he nods back, bemused.

"Anyone beat my keg-stand record yet?" she asks.

He shakes his head.

"Not fuckin' likely, and you know it," is his reply. He grins then, looking like an excited little boy.

"Why? You feel like puttin' on a show, Gilbert?"

Elena laughs and shakes her head.

"Not tonight," she denies. "Just wanted to prove a point."

He nods in understanding.

"Cool, well, let us know if you change your mind." He grins again, raises his cup to them, then wanders over to the cheerleaders.

Dean shakes his head.

"They really do just come when you call."

Elena laughs in surprise.

"Southern manners, I told you," she reminds him.

He nods, doing his best to mask his disbelief. She really doesn't realize the effect she has on people. Well, most people. She seems perfectly aware of the effect she has on him.

"Either way, I'm still the undefeated keg-stand champion of Mystic Falls High School." She shrugs lightly.

He laughs.

"Okay, you're the party queen."

She nods.

"Damn right I am."

The entire conversation Dean has been keeping an eye on Stefan as best he can. Now that he seems to be wandering away, towards the woods, full of drunk, horny teenagers, Dean knows the time has come.

Sure enough, his phone starts to ring.

He pulls it out, putting on a show to look at who it is, already knowing.

"It's my dad," he says apologetically.

Elena waves him off.

He puts his cup down next to her, and then starts to make his way through the crowds. He answers his phone. He keeps his tone low, just another voice under the roar of the crowd.

"Yeah, I'm following him."

* * *

In the woods everything is muted. The party seems miles away instead of mere yards. Dean does his best to make his steps heavy, drunken. There is no quiet way to stalk a vampire, so he does his best to make it seem like he isn't stalking him at all. Just a drunken teenager wandering through the woods.

Every time he passes a canoodling couple he gets their attention and mimes that the cops are here. They all have their way exit strategies planned. Luckily, none of them follow him deeper into the woods.

In a place like Mystic Falls, everyone knows not to go too far into the woods after dark, even if they don't know why.

When it seems like no one else is around, Dean draws his gun. It's loaded with wooden bullets. He positions himself behind a tree, lets the vampire get ahead of him.

Just when Dean is aiming for his knee, he speaks.

"I know you're here," he calls out.

Dean freezes, holding his breath.

"Show yourself."

Dean slides to the ground as quietly as he can. He can't be sure if Stefan is talking to him or to his father, hidden somewhere else in the woods.

"Quit playing games, Damon."

Dean lets out the breath he's been holding.

The lazy drawl of the other Salvatore breaks the silence.

"But I like games, little brother."

Dean shifts just barely so he can see their figures at least.

Stefan huffs impatiently.

"You could've just told me you were in town," he says, his tone strident.

Damon laughs.

"Where's the fun in that?"

Stefan huffs again.

"I don't like your games, you know that."

Damon sighs dramatically.

"Oh I know, it's so boring. When did you get so boring? Remember when you used to slaughter entire villages?" His question is rhetorical, he continues on mercilessly. "That guy was a riot."

Stefan inhales, like he's been struck, wounded.

"I'm not like that anymore." He sounds determined.

Damon laughs.

"Yeah, you're really not." He sounds disappointed. "Is that why you thought you could just come back? Pretend to be human? Get the girl? Live happily ever after?"

He laughs again, clearly mocking his brother.

"It's been fun watching you lose to that other new kid at every turn. Elena is masterful at the brush off." He sounds delighted. "It's almost sexy how mean she is. Reminds me of Katherine."

Stefan interrupts him, to Dean's relief. It'd turned his stomach, hearing that monster say her name.

"She's not Katherine." Stefan's tone is strident.

"No she is not." Damon sounds both disappointed and delighted at the same time. "For one, she doesn't like you one bit."

Abruptly, an arrow goes through Damon's shoulder, pinning him to a tree. Apparently John has gotten bored of their dialogue.

Before Stefan can react, Dean shoots him in the knee. In the distance, teenagers count loudly as someone does a keg-stand, covering the sound of the gunshot.

John steps out into the open as soon as Stefan hits the ground, his crossbow aimed at the vampire pinned to the tree. Dean follows his father's example, his gun still aimed at the vampire on the ground.

"Huh," Damon says. "Hey Stef, did you know Elena's new boyfriend is a hunter?"

Stefan grinds his teeth in pain and frustration.

"No Damon, I did not."

Damon's response is immediate.

"Stef, why the fuck didn't you know that Elena's new boyfriend is a hunter?"

Dean can't help but feel a little amused by their banter, but he tries his best to hide it, knowing his dad would disapprove.

"Are you really going to do this now?" John asks, sighing with long-suffering annoyance.

"Yes, Mr. Hunter, Sir, I am," Damon retorts. "Because my brother's a damn idiot. You can kill us after he answers, okay?" He pauses. "Or, you can try to kill us."

Dean and John don't even need to look at each other to know what the other is going to say.

"We're going to kill you."

The vampire is dismissive.

"Yeah sure, after he answers the question."

John doesn't immediately shoot him, so Dean assumes that he actually wants to know why Stefan had gotten so sloppy. It's a good question, considering Stefan had been right there when Dean told the group his dad is a private investigator, not exactly subtle. Hell, he'd made a joke about stalking him within his hearing, knowing full well the vampire was listening in on their conversation.

Stefan finally caves, and answers. His words come out grudgingly.

"I was focused on other things."

There's a pause, then –

"Seriously Stefan?" Damon is incredulous. "You let a seventeen-year-old get to you that badly? She doesn't even like you."

Stefan opens his mouth to protest, but Damon cuts him off.

"She calls you Creepy Stefan."

Dean can't help but pipe up.

"We all do."

John doesn't take his eyes off of Damon to look at his son, but Dean can tell by the twitch of his shoulder that he doesn't approve of his addition.

Damon waves his good hand in Dean's direction.

"They all do! Wake up, Stef, you're not in the club. No one buys your sad boy bullshit."

Dean actively bites his tongue this time.

"I don't know why we're talking about this when they're planning on killing us, Damon." Stefan's voice is tightly controlled.

Damon's voice is loud in comparison.

"It's goddamn relevant, that's why, you dumb shit. We wouldn't be in this situation if you paid one iota of attention to your competition instead of staring moon-eyed at Elena's pretty, shiny hair when she literally couldn't care less if you dropped dead in front of her."

Dean feels something click into place in his head.

"Why didn't you notice?" Dean asks.

Everyone's attention snapped over to him.

"Excuse me?" Damon asks, taken aback.

"Well you're obviously stalking her too." When Damon doesn't argue, Dean continues. "Why didn't you realize what I am?"

The vampires stare at him, Dean has his eyes on Stefan still, he's not stupid, but he can see from his peripheral vision that Damon has gone still.

When Damon still doesn't answer, Dean continues.

"Were you distracted by her pretty, shiny hair, too?"

He risks a brief glance at Damon's face. It's only a glance, but it's enough to remind Dean exactly what these two brothers are.

His dad always says that vampires are dangerous in a way very few monsters are. Their appearance is so close to that of a human, and they're eerily good at blending in with humans. They can make you forget they're monsters. They're incredibly hard to identify. Damon's face may not be all vamped-out, but the complete lack of humanity, of emotion, is unnerving.

Despite this, his reply is surprisingly lame. He scoffs.

"You're distracted by her pretty, shiny hair."

Dean wants to laugh.

"Not too distracted to do my job."

Damon pauses.

"Point to Hunter Junior," he says this begrudgingly.

"I'm not here to hurt anybody," Stefan says, surprising them all.

Damon is incredulous.

"Really? You're going to sell me out?"

Stefan shakes his head at his brother sadly.

"I can't honestly say you won't hurt anyone." He turns his attention back to Dean. "But I can promise you, I have no interest in hurting anyone. She's not interested, I got the message, I'll go."

Dean stares at him in disbelief.

"You stalked her for months and we're supposed to believe you? That's sick."

Stefan protests.

"I was just watching her." He stresses the word 'watching', trying to change the connotation of the situation. Then he pauses, suddenly understanding exactly what Dean said. "How did you know it was for months?"

Dean raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, you traitorous little rat," Damon suddenly growls.

Stefan turns his attention to his brother.

"Zach called them," Damon says. "I knew I should've killed him ages ago."

Stefan looks gutted, like it genuinely hurts him that his human descendant had betrayed him. Part of Dean wants to ask him why he's surprised. He's a monster, and he's been stalking a girl Zach has known her entire life, a girl he's watched grow up. He keeps his mouth shut.

Damon switches his attention back to John.

"I'm going to rip him to pieces," he says grimly. "But first, I'm gonna kill you two. I'll kill your son first, some things a father just needs to see to believe, then I'm going to kill you, and then I'm gonna eat pretty little Elena Gilbert's heart. I'm sorry you won't be around to see the show, but I promise I'll enjoy it enough for all of us."

He cocks his head to look at Dean

"I'll be very gentle with her." He pauses, then grins, "At first." He looks utterly monstrous in his delight. "She's gonna love me."

Stefan protests.

"Damon." His tone is horrified enough that he almost seems human.

His brother ignores him. He turns his attention back to John.

"If you let me go I promise to kill you quickly." When he grins, his fangs are extended, his eyes full of blood. "Hell, I'll kill your son quickly, too." He licks his teeth. "As long as you keep your eyes open."

Stefan starts to speak.

"Damon, please, for once in your life –"

Before he can finish, John drops his crossbow, draws a stake out of his coat, and drives it into Damon's heart.

Stefan sucks in a breath. There is shock and horror warring on his face as his brother desiccates.

Dean doesn't allow himself to dwell on any of it. While Stefan is fixated on his brother's corpse, Dean switches his gun for his own stake. He hauls Stefan up, slams him into the closest tree, and drives the stake up under his ribcage and into his heart before he can speak.

For a moment, there is only the sound of Dean and John breathing—the party in the distance—and these are the moments Dean lives for, when he and his dad are exactly in the same moment, together.

Finally, John breaks the silence.

"Well, they were chatty."

Dean snorts.

Somewhere in the distance, someone whoops, and then there's a distant splash. Someone has jumped into the falls.

"Sounds like they're having a good time," John observes, watching his son.

Dean nods, but his mind is back on his earlier musing.

"Do you think it's right?"

John waits for Dean to elaborate.

"These kids, the Founders' kids, they have no idea what's coming for them. Is it fair that they're parents keep this all from them?"

John sighs.

"You know I don't disagree with you, Dean. Their parents are just trying to protect them in their own way."

Dean shakes his head, unable to dismiss his feelings.

"But they're not safe." He gestures at the bodies. "We just killed monsters a hundred yards from where they're partying, and they don't have a fucking clue."

Dean can only partially see his dad, but he knows that he's been leveled a look for his language.

John sighs again.

"They chose to protect their innocence above all else," John finally says.

Dean frowns. He can't find the words for what he's feeling, so he simplifies.

"That's bullshit."

John laughs this time.

"I don't disagree."

Dean switches back to the ending of their task.

"We should probably take the bodies a little deeper before we burn them."

John nods in agreement.

"We should, and once we do you're gonna go back to the party."

Dean looks at him in surprise.

"You've done a lot of solo work on this one," John says, the closest he gets to praise.

Dean can feel the flush of pride creeping up, but he shrugs it off.

"I hung out with a pretty girl, I don't know if you can call it work."

John thumps him on the back.

"Be that as it may, help me move the bodies, I'll take care of the rest."

Dean opens his mouth to protest but John shakes his head.

"I can burn bodies by myself, Dean."

He gives his son his own version of an affectionate look.

"If I recall correctly, you've got a very pretty girl waiting for you."

Dean flushes, glad that his dad can't see his red face.

John speaks again before Dean can open his mouth.

"Just be home before noon."

* * *

Trudging his way back to the party, Dean almost stumbles over a body on the ground. For a moment his heart starts to pound, but then the girl groans and moves.

He crouches down next to her. It's the waitress Jeremy and Tyler had been flirting with the night before. There's just enough light to see that she isn't bleeding, just wasted.

"Need some help up?" he asks.

She groans again.

"Standing's bad, dude."

He nearly laughs.

"So is lying on the ground in the woods at night."

She huffs, but puts her hands up.

He grasps her hands and hauls her up.

She sways dizzily, staring at him.

"Huh, new kid."

She glares at him.

"Stop flirting with my brother's ex."

Dean blinks.

"Okay, why don't you tell me who your brother is and we'll go find him?"

She glares, then sways face forward into his chest.

"Okay," Dean says.

She's mostly incoherent but can still walk, sort of. He half-drags, half-leads her back towards the party, certain that someone will recognize her when they get there.

Sure enough, almost immediately Donovan breaks off from the rest of the football players to accost them.

Well that explains the looks he's been giving Dean. Matt is Elena's ex.

"Vicky, are you all right?"

Vicky moans into Dean's shoulder.

"Uh, she was lying on the ground in the woods," Dean explains.

Vicky detaches herself from Dean and careens into her brother's arms.

Matt nods, wraps an arm around her.

"Thanks for getting her back safely."

Dean nods.

"Of course."

Matt studies him for a second.

"Elena's with Bonnie and Caroline over by the campfire." He says this almost grudgingly, but Dean can also hear that it's a peace offering.

Dean nods.

"Thanks, man."

Matt starts corralling his sister towards his truck.

Dean watches them for a moment, then heads towards the campfire. He can hear Elena's perfect laugh, and he can already feel the grin growing on his face.

Elena's back is to him, so he has a moment to appreciate her pretty, shiny hair.

"Fucking vampires," he mutters. He's already stupid about everything else about her, the last thing he needs is a fixation on her hair, but Jesus Christ, he wants to touch it. He wants his hands in her hair and everything that comes after.

Luckily, Caroline catches sight of him and stops his brain from completing its descent into the gutter.

"Oh good, you're back, Dean, thank god," Caroline says, overly loud in her drunken state.

Elena laughs, but turns to look at Dean. She grins at him and he grins back, far too gone to even feel stupid anymore.

"If you didn't come back, I was gonna have to take Elena home myself," Caroline says with drunk girl seriousness.

Dean holds back a laugh. He sits down next to Elena.

"Well I'm back so you're relieved of your duty as a backup."

Caroline's hair flip is picture perfect, despite her inebriated state.

"I am nobody's backup."

Bonnie snorts into her cup.

Elena laughs too, and at the same time she leans into Dean just a little. He looks over at her. She cocks an eyebrow at him.

"You get lost again?" she asks in a teasing tone.

He shrugs and grins.

"I am the new guy."

Caroline points at him wildly.

"Yes you are, the only new guy." She widens her eyes to emphasize her point.

Elena and Bonnie nod seriously.

Dean leans into Elena.

"So we're pretending Creepy Stefan doesn't exist now?" he asks in undertone.

Elena nods, tapping her nose to indicate that he's on the nose.

Dean casually steals her drink to take a sip. He needs something to cover up his traitorous face before it says anything about the fact that other new guy is being burned in the woods by Dean's own father right this very minute.

Elena steals her drink back with a scolding look, but the corner of her mouth twitches involuntarily and her eyes sparkle and Dean knows she really doesn't mind.

Caroline is watching them like they're the cutest thing she's ever seen.

"Ugh, I need a new-new guy," she says with a pout.

She narrows her eyes at Dean questioningly.

"You don't happen to have a brother do you?"

Dean laughs at her unexpected question.

Caroline waves her hands.

"SERIOUSLY, DEAN WINCHESTER, DO YOU HAVE A BROTHER FOR ME OR NOT?"

Elena and Bonnie have joined Dean in his laughter and it takes them a little while to calm down enough for Dean to answer.

"Uh, sorry, Forbes, he's 13," he says apologetically.

"Oh." Caroline stares at him, then pouts. "No fair."

Bonnie cackles, then pulls Caroline up with her.

"All right, I think it's time for you to go home before you say something you regret in the morning."

Caroline goes but turns back to yell one more very important statement.

'I'M CAROLINE FORBES AND I REGRET NOTHING."

Bonne drags her off stumbling and cackling, leaving Dean and Elena alone.

For a moment neither of them speak.

Elena finally breaks the silence.

"Caroline Forbes, ladies and gentlemen."

Dean chuckles.

"You have interesting friends."

Elena grins.

"I am never bored with them."

Dean nods.

"I'll bet. Seriously though, they're great."

Elena cocks her head to the side.

"Moving a lot, it must be hard to have to make friends in every new town?"

Dean blinks, feeling a little taken aback.

He steals her drink for another sip, then shrugs as nonchalantly as he can.

"I guess I don't usually put much effort into it," he admits finally.

He's surprised when Elena nods in understanding.

"You must be really close with your brother, then? And your dad?"

Something inside him, something tight and protective, loosens for the first time in a while. He can feel his shoulders relax in a way they haven't before. By all accounts, her understanding should scare him shitless. Instead he nods in relief.

"Yeah, I am." He smiles slightly.

Elena smiles back at him, then takes her drink from him. Just like that, no further questioning. Apparently, he doesn't have to spill his guts to her in order for her to take him seriously.

He looks around the party to distract himself. The party is mostly winding down.

"Did Jeremy come to this?" he asks, more out of curiosity than anything else.

She nods.

"Came and went," she says, gesturing with her cup. "He's staying with a friend tonight, allegedly."

Dean nods a little helplessly.

Elena finishes her drink and stacks her cup with the ones Bonnie and Caroline have left.

Dean considers his options. They're damn near close to being the last two people at the party, but Elena doesn't seem eager to leave. He could wait around to see what she's thinking, or just come out and ask.

"So, are you ready to go or?"

Elena looks at him, slightly surprised.

She shakes her head.

"I'm enjoying the company," she says simply.

He can't help any of his reactions to her, so of course he grins.

"I mean, we can still hang out, we don't have to stay here," he points out. "We could drive around?"

Elena bites her lip, cocks her head to the side. He doesn't know how much she's had to drink, but something in her demeanor says it doesn't matter, she really isn't drunk at all. Her next words are deliberate and to the point.

"Or we could go to my house?" She shrugs. "Jenna's on campus all weekend."

Dean blinks, then grins, and it's just about as dirty as hers earlier.

"We could do that, too."

* * *

Elena Gilbert is not a nice girl. He could make a solid case against her being a good girl too. She doesn't bother with pretenses when they get back to her house, just takes his hand and leads him through darkened rooms, up the stairs to her bedroom.

When she kisses him it's demanding and challenging, teeth and tongue, her hands in his hair, the second he slides his hands into her hair, it's over. She walks him backwards to her bed and pushes him down without breaking their kiss. She crawls into his lap, all long limbs and soft curves.

Kissing her is just about the most turned on he's ever been in his life, he feels like she's set him on fire. She grinds down on him, fingernails cut into his skin. She's not at all gentle or soft and it's driving him crazy. He grips her waist like it's a lifeline.

She shoves off his jacket and he has half a second to be glad that he'd left his gun in the car before she's pulling off her own jacket. She sheds their layers quickly, all business. He can't help it, he laughs into her mouth just a little.

She doesn't even bother to stop kissing him, just grins into his mouth. She moves back just enough to say, "What?" before she kisses him again.

""You are pretty much the best surprise I've ever gotten in my entire life," he says.

She grins, flips her hair and shimmies out of her leggings and skirt.

"You haven't seen nothing yet."

She climbs back into his lap in nothing but her underwear. She takes him by surprise when, instead of kissing him again, she sinks her teeth into his bare shoulder like it's the only thing she's been thinking about since they met, her hands anchored on his neck and bicep. He just about dies on the spot.

"Jesus," he mutters. It's all he can do to hold onto her waist and not completely lose his fucking mind.

It takes a concentrated effort for him not to convulse. She nips her way up his neck, with less force than that first one, but still decidedly not soft. Dean is surprised at how much he likes it.

Sure, he's been bitten during sex before, but he can't remember ever being so reactive to it before. It sets him on fire. She bites down on his jawline achingly slow. She even nips the corner of his mouth. He's practically shaking by the time she kisses him on the mouth. He can feel her grinning again, knows she knows exactly what she's doing.

He snorts.

"Wild streak my ass." She's wild through and through, she just pretends real well that she's a sweet Southern girl.

He slides one hand up her back from its resting place on her waist, pops her bra off with one hand.

She grins again.

"Yeah, maybe it's a bit more of a defining personality trait than I let on."

She shrugs, then shimmies out of her bra, tossing it aside.

"Uh-huh." Dean's attention is definitely on her naked breasts. He dives right in, after all, she'd figured out his kryptonite nearly right away. Hell, he didn't even know how much he likes being bitten until she sank her teeth into him. It's only fair that he returns the favor. He has some catching up to do.

He has one hand on her back, her waist is so tiny he can span her back from thumb to pinkie easily, he squeezes once, experimentally, her nipple in his mouth.

She laughs breathlessly.

"Hmm, interesting," he mumbles, moving his attention to her other nipple.

She pushes him flat on his back, flips her hair, and Jesus she is sexy. She kisses him again, teeth scraping against his tongue and lips, sending wildfire heat all over him.

He shoves his hand under the elastic of her panties to squeeze her ass.

She giggles huskily.

"You're getting warmer," she singsongs.

He practically growls.

"You're killing me."

She hums in agreement.

"That's the goal."

She sucks his lower lip into her mouth, tests it against her teeth until he tastes copper.

* * *

He doesn't know when he fell asleep, but it's still dark out when he wakes up. It takes a second to register there is no one in bed next to him, and then the quiet movements across the room.

He sits up, fumbles for a light. He finds one at last. Elena is across the room, sitting at the window seat while she's pulling her socks on. She's dressed in a tank top and athletic shorts, like she's planning on going somewhere, which is insane because it's so early that it's still dark out. Her hair is all neatly gathered into a high ponytail, just like it at cheer practice.

"Morning," she says. "Sorry I woke you."

"S'okay," he says, blinking.

"Where you going?" he asks, confused.

"For a run," she explains.

He blinks, confused.

"But it's Saturday, and," he looks at her alarm clock. "Five in the morning?"

He gives her an incredulous look.

She shrugs with careful nonchalance. "I don't sleep very well."

He nods, not quite getting it in his near comatose state.

She takes pity on him.

"Go back to sleep, Dean."

He blinks, moves like he's going to get up. She shakes her head and gets up, gently pushing him back down into her bed.

"Seriously, go back to sleep, I don't mind if you stay."

He nods sleepily. He raises his hand, palms the back of her head and pulls her down for a brief sleepy kiss.

He's asleep again before she even fully sits up. She grins, turns the light off and heads downstairs to put on her running shoes.

* * *

He wakes up again just as she's getting out of the shower, and really there is nothing in this world that could stop him from pouncing on Elena Gilbert all wet in nothing but a towel. He's only a teenage boy, after all.

It's after nine by the time they finish. They're tangled up in her bed, he's absentmindedly playing with her hair and wondering how in the hell he's supposed to leave this girl behind.

She traces her fingers across a particularly deep bitemark on his shoulder.

"Sorry," she says, although she doesn't all that sorry at all.

He laughs.

"Don't be, I liked it."

She grins at him, unabashed.

"I really, really liked it," he adds, in case she didn't fully believe him the first time.

She giggles, leaning up to press a soft, lingering kiss to the bitemark. She hums a little as she pulls back, twisting to check the time.

"Bonnie and Caroline are coming over soon to make pancakes," she tells him. "You're welcome to stay."

He raises an eyebrow.

"Pancakes?"

She nods, shimmying closer, pressing their bare chests together.

"It's a back-to-school tradition."

It takes a second for his brain to catch up to her words, he has a naked girl pressed up against him, okay, it's hard to focus on anything else. He shrugs, trying to be nonchalant, but truthfully he's glad for another excuse to stay a little longer.

"Who in the hell would say no to pancakes?"

Elena laughs and crawls out of bed, dodging his grabby hands. She heads for the bathroom, coming out with a fresh band-aid for her graveyard wound.

* * *

By the time Bonnie and Caroline arrive they're both fully dressed. That doesn't stop Elena's friends from giving them an actual round of applause when Elena leads them into the kitchen where Dean is waiting.

Elena doesn't even blush, just grins wickedly and curtsies for her friends.

Caroline holds up a hand to Dean, and he obliges. He's almost surprised at how ridiculously cool Elena's friends are, but it also makes sense, she would be friends with girls that cool.

"Nice," Caroline says approvingly. "Elena definitely needed to get laid."

Elena doesn't even hesitate to throw an egg at Caroline's face. Dean laughs his ass off.

Bonnie intervenes before Caroline can retaliate, sending her upstairs to get cleaned up. Elena grins unrepentantly at Dean and he can't help but grin back, shaking his head.

When Caroline comes back downstairs the two girls make up easily. Caroline simply tossing her newly blown out hair over her shoulder and insisting that it needed an egg wash anyway.

The three of them are the messiest chefs Dean has ever met and he's pretty sure he has flour in his hair (and a handprint on the back pocket of his jeans, not that he's complaining. After all, it was Elena's hand).

They're nearly done when Jeremy walks in the front door. He stops dead in his tracks, then laughs his ass off at the sight of the disastrous kitchen and the four of them covered in flour. He only stops long enough to take pictures of them, Elena flipping him off in every one but the first.

They all eat pancakes and talk over each other and it's the most fun Dean has had with kids his age in as long as he can remember.

Later when they're cleaning up, Caroline strikes up a conversation. Bonnie had to go home for one reason or another, Jeremy is already passed out on the couch, and Elena is upstairs trying to get the flour out of her hair. It's really just the two of them still cleaning, but most of the hard work is done, so neither of them complain.

"Elena seems very happy," Caroline says casually.

He raises an eyebrow.

She rolls her eyes at him and hits him with a dish towel.

"I'm being serious," she says insistently. The look on his face causes her to amend her statement. "Now. I'm being serious now."

He nods solemnly, gesturing for her to continue.

"She's happy, and I like seeing my best friend happy, so don't hurt her," she says sharply, narrowing blue eyes at him.

He swallows the lump in his throat. A part of him, a large part of him, wants to promise her he'd never hurt Elena. He's surprised at how badly he wants to say it and mean it, just like he's been surprised by everything else about Elena and his reactions to her, but he knows better. For all he knows, he could be leaving Mystic Falls forever in a matter of hours. The vampires are dead, the case is over. He doesn't want to leave, and he hates that. He also doesn't want to lie to Caroline.

The real problem is, he wants to be this girl's friend and date her best friend and hang out with these people for the rest of his life and that's such a foreign concept to him that he almost doesn't lie to her.

"I never want to," he finally replies. It's the truth, but it feels hollow.

She nods.

"Good."

She cocks her head to the side.

"You and I are going to be very good friends."

She goes back to cleaning after that.

He feels a lot less at ease after that.

Elena comes downstairs, hair free of flour. She grins at Dean, but makes an immediate beeline for her brother's sleeping form. Without a word she sits down on top of him, cackling until he shoves her off, gently. He makes his way upstairs to his bedroom, grumbling all the way.

When Dean leaves a few minutes later, Elena kisses him goodbye, but she doesn't ask him to call. He's surprised by how disappointed he is, even though he'd been afraid of her asking that. Afraid of lying to her. He doesn't know if it says more about her or him.

* * *

Up until this point they've been staying at some cutesy B&B on the outskirts of town. The Salvatore Boarding House is a far cry from that kitschy floral gag-fest.

Sammy's all over him the second he walks through the front door. He's never been an over-excitable kid, but he is a geek, and the library is big enough to even give Dean pause.

Sam's asking a million questions, and it takes Dean a second to catch up with him.

"Does Elena like books?" is Sam's last question. Sam doesn't usually pay much attention to the girls Dean is with, but Elena has been a topic of much discussion recently. It makes sense that Dean's brother would be curious about her.

Dean stares blankly. They'd talked about a lot of things, that was true, but not that.

"She writes in a diary?" he offers lamely.

"Elena has always been a reader." Zach is coming down the stairs. "Her Aunt Jenna used to drag me with her to the bookstore around holidays when we were in high school. I remember her Nancy Drew phase vividly."

Dean can't help but smile at that, picturing a miniature Elena with her nose buried in one of those famous yellow books.

Sam looks at the books towering over them.

"How many of these do you think she's read?"

Zach laughs.

"Well, I can't say, she's never browsed this specific collection."

Sam turns wide, questioning eyes on him.

"I could never be sure when my Uncles would drop in, so I tried my best to keep the local kids away."

Zach's explanation makes sense, Dean hadn't realized how much his vampiric ancestors must have weighed on him. He looks lighter now, like he's been free of a great weight and doesn't quite know what to do with his body now that it is free.

Suddenly, Zach grins directly at Dean.

"Although, a year or so ago a couple of kids broke in, I never caught them, and they didn't take anything or leave too big of a mess, but I'd bet good money that Elena was one of them."

Dean laughs in delight and Sam makes a face, it hasn't quite occurred to him yet that someone could be an academic and a delinquent.

John comes down the stairs then, interrupting them.

"Oh good, you're home, come on up." As usual John gets to the point.

Dean doesn't question it, just follows his dad upstairs. Zach follows up behind them.

"We've been going through Unc-I mean, Stefan's diaries, he's kept one for every year of his life."

Dean side-eyes him. Recognizing the look, Zach elaborates.

"Before and after he became a vampire."

Dean nods.

"Find anything interesting?"

The look Zach gives him is bone-chilling. It's the face of a man who knows things he never wanted to know.

"I never looked at them when he was alive," Zach admits in a low voice. "The things he did…" Zach clears his throat. "He was definitely stalking Elena."

They're at Stefan's room now. There's a desk full of half opened journals all over a desk, and about half a dozen left on the shelf. John, catching the end of Zach's statement, picks up where he left off.

"He was there the night her parents died."

Dean's eyes widen, but John shakes his head before he can even ask.

"He's generally been honest about his sins, but he doesn't say a thing about causing their accident."

Dean feels his heart settle down. He's still suspicious, but he knows his Dad wouldn't let a monster off the hook unless he had solid evidence to back it up.

His dad continues to summarize.

"He heard the crash, came to help, and Dr. Gilbert, Elena's father, was still alive. Mrs. Gilbert was already dead, but Elena was alive, although unconscious. Dr. Gilbert insisted Stefan save his daughter. He did, and Dr. Gilbert died in the meantime."

Dean takes it all in. It's so clinical to hear it from his dad as opposed to Elena's gut-wrenching half-sentences. His dad has never met Elena Gilbert, he has to remember that. Her pain is only an abstract fact to him.

Dean refocuses on the case.

"So he saved her and then decided to stalk her?" It seems contradictory, but a vampire saving a human was wildly out of character in the first place.

Zach shook his head grimly.

"He said he thought she was Katherine. He stuck around to make sure she wasn't."

John is absorbed in an entry, so Dean asks for more information.

"Who's Katherine?"

"Katherine was the vampire who changed the Salvatore brothers. She's supposedly dead, so I'm not sure why he thought they were same person."

Sam's voice cuts through.

"Well here's a picture of her, maybe they look alike?"

Even John looks up from the journal he'd been absorbed in to stare at his youngest son. None of them had noticed Sam following them into the room. Sam had beelined for the journals left on the shelf.

"A photograph of who?" Dean asks.

"Katherine," Sam replies. "But it's not a photograph, it's a daguerreotype."

John gives him a look before he takes off on a rant. Sam zips his lips and holds the picture out to his brother. Dean gives him a look.

"She's your girlfriend, you tell me if Katherine looks like her."

Dean narrows his eyes at him.

"She's not my girlfriend, and Zach's known her longer."

He still takes the picture from him.

"Holy shit."

Zach comes over to look, curious.

"Wow," he breathes.

"Do they look alike?" John asks.

Dean and Zach nod in unison.

"They're identical."

Dean nods vigorously.

"It's freaky."

The paper covering on the photo of the Antebellum equivalent of Elena clearly says 'Katherine 1864.'

John takes a look at the photo. He looks up at Dean.

Before Dean's mind can go down the weird-ass spiral that's about to start, Zach interrupts.

"I've known Elena Gilbert all her life." His voice is quiet but firm, brooking no arguments. "I remember her as a little girl, as a baby, even."

John considers this.

"What about her mother's pregnancy?"

Zach stops abruptly.

"I was never that close to the family, and this was over 17 years ago," he says finally. "But, I can't say I remember Miranda's pregnancy."

Dean exhales.

John nods.

"It could mean a lot of things," he says finally. He looks at his eldest again. "I'd write off the resemblance if we only had the vampire's journal to go on, but the photograph-"

Sam interrupts.

"I told you, it's a daguerreotype."

This time both Dean and John give him a look, so he shuts it once again.

John continues on like Sam hasn't spoken.

"The photograph suggests at least a familial relationship. And what Dean has told me about her certainly suggests she has an abnormal effect on people."

John stops then, allowing them to absorb his opinions.

Zach considers this.

"I mean, she's always been charming, but I guess I've lived here so long I might downplay it more than outsider."

Dean nods reluctantly. He'd noticed her effect on people right away. Suddenly remembering something, he speaks.

"She's definitely human."

John raises an eyebrow.

"She got hurt in the graveyard, remember?"

John nods.

"Well, she changed the band-aid this morning, I saw it with my own two eyes, it was definitely still healing."

John considers this.

"Well, I guess we'll have to stick around for a bit longer."

Dean had been wishing for that very thing just this morning, now it seemed a lot more complicated than it did then.

Sam jumps in.

"Does that mean I get to meet Elena?"

"No." Dean says at the same time John says, "Yes."

He looks at his dad, startled. John shrugs noncommittally.

"Your girlfriend usually meets your family, son."

"She's not my girlfriend."

John shrugs again.

"Guess she is now."

Sam grins.

"I wonder if she'll wanna talk about books with me."

Dean exhales through his nose.

"I'm sure she will, Sammy."

Zach nods in agreement, but his mind is preoccupied.

"I'd never wondered if there was any special reason that people always seem to like her so much."

John shrugs.

"It could be nothing, it could be something and still be completely harmless. It's better if we know."

Dean can't help but laugh.

All eyes turn to him. He shakes his head.

"Nothing," he mutters. Figures, the first girl he's ever been genuinely interested in, and now she's looking to be their next case.

John looks him over. Without a word, he holds up the vampire's journal, clears his throat and begins to read aloud.

_"I shouldn't have come home. I know the risk. But I had no choice. I have to know her."_

John stops.

"Sounds like she has a drastic effect on our vampire too."

Dean snorts.

"Sounds like he's blaming his predatory instincts on a 17-year-old girl."

Dean doesn't often mouth off to his dad, but he can't help it. Sure, Elena has an unusual effect on people, but she never asked to be stalked by a vampire. Vampires are predators after all, it doesn't seem fair to blame her charisma—or whatever it is—for Stefan's obsession with her when it was in his very nature to stalk his prey.

Surprisingly, John dips his head in agreement.

"Well, I look forward to getting to know all about her."

 

**Author's Note:**

> That's all folks! Hope you liked it. There's a fanmix/playlist for this fic up on 8tracks under the same title if you wanna check it out. I'll leave the link below!
> 
> https://8tracks.com/callmewolf/all-i-know-is-a-new-found-grace


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